President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday reiterated that solid relations exist between Taiwan and Japan amid unresolved disputes over the sovereignty of the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) and pledged to deepen the bilateral cultural exchanges besides economic and trade cooperation.
“If politics is a fence, culture can be the wings that will [allow us to] fly over the fence. Although Taiwan and Japan severed diplomatic ties 40 years ago, we’ve developed closer relations with Japan over the years. I’ve defined Taiwan-Japan relations as a special partnership since taking office and stressed cultural exchanges between the two nations besides economic and trade cooperation,” he said at the opening ceremony of a painting exhibition at National Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall.
The exhibition, which showcased a collection of woodblock paintings by Judy Ongg (翁倩玉), a renowned Taiwanese artist based in Japan, attracted the attendance of politicians from both Japan and Taiwan.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
Interchange Association, Japan, Chairman Mitsuo Ohashi also attended the event.
Ma said his administration and Japanese government have made great efforts to promote cultural exchanges between the two sides and as the two sides joined efforts to reduce the legal obstacles on overseas exhibitions, the National Palace Museum is scheduled to hold exhibitions in Japan in 2014, while major museums in Japan are scheduled to hold exhibitions in Taiwan.
Ohashi also defended relations between Taiwan and Japan speaking at the opening ceremony, but avoided discussing the dispute over the Diaoyutais.
When asked to comment on the issue, Ongg said that Japan and Taiwan have enjoyed a deep friendship over the past years, adding that she expected the territorial dispute to be resolved soon after positive reactions from both sides.
Separately yesterday, Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the Japanese foreign minister’s call for calm in dealing with “pending issues” in relations between Taiwan and Japan demonstrated goodwill.
The ministry was referring to a statement by Koichiro Gemba, released by the Interchange Association, Japan, on Friday, that called on both sides to not allow “isolated problems” to affect bilateral relations and to make the effort to communicate and deal with problems rationally.
Though the statement did not mention the Diaoyutais explicitly, it was clearly addressing the mounting tensions between Taiwan and Japan over the islet chain, which both countries claim as their territory.
“This is an indication of Japan’s demonstration of goodwill,” ministry spokesman Steve Hsia (夏季昌) said.
In his statement, the Japanese foreign minister said it was in the interests of all parties involved to ensure peace and stability in the East China Sea.
Gemba said that although some parts of Taiwan’s East China Sea peace initiative and its “implementation guidelines” were unacceptable to Japan, Japan acknowledges the basic concept and spirit of the proposal.
The initiative, proposed by Ma in August to deal with sovereignty disputes over small islets in the East China Sea, calls for all parties involved to shelve territorial disputes and jointly explore and share resources in the region.
Japan has long refused to acknowledge that there is a territorial dispute, insisting it has sovereignty over the islets.
Tensions have mounted over the Diaoyutai Islands in the East China Sea since Japan bought three of the chain’s islets from their private owner on Sept. 11 in an apparent bid to further assert its sovereignty over the archipelago.
Taiwan has since reasserted its sovereignty over the island chain, which lies 120 nautical miles (220 km) northeastern of Taipei.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai